Category — Random

The Funnies this week have a very specific theme.

Oenophilia (EE-no-FIL-ee-a; Greek for the love (philia) of wine (oinos)) is a love of wine. 

I actually asked myself this question last weekend!

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I happily stumbled into the opportunity to take Dave to Garland’s Oak Creek Lodge for his birthday weekend.

A friend, whom I have yet to meet in person, offered it and I snagged it up the second I saw it.

Betsy is a follower and frequent commenter. I did a little research and found that  Betsy has left 50 comments here. Betsy, you are awesome!

Anyhow, Betsy and I are Facebook friends too. On August 20th, Betsy posted that she would not be able to use her reserved weekend at Garland’s and asked if anyone would like to take it. I jumped at the opportunity!

Garland’s has a long history of being difficult to get into. Guests hold on to their treasured reservations from year to year. And since Betsy’s weekend happened to fall on Dave’s birthday, I just had to have it. I sent Betsy a check, she made the arrangements with Garland’s and we were set.

Dave had no idea where we were going. I just told him what to pack a bag and then I drove north.

He was surprised and thrilled when I pulled off beautiful State Route 89A, crossed Oak Creek, and into Garland’s 10-acre/16 cabin property.

Garland’s is an American-plan lodge; it includes a full breakfast, afternoon tea, and gourmet dinner.

The food is a big part of the experience. We enjoyed Roast Pork Loin with Port Plum Reduction on Friday night and Pan Seared Halibut with Romesco Sauce and Saturday.

Oh, and the warm Orange-Cranberry muffins we scarfed down on Saturday morning…. to die for!

On Saturday night, I had a quick look into the kitchen and met Chef Brian Widmer. Chef Widmer could not have been more gracious, warm, and welcoming. Thank you Chef for taking a few minutes during your crunch time to talk with me!

It’s hard to tear yourself away from the property, but Dave and I did venture out on Saturday afternoon to visit Slide Rock State Park, which just reopened on Wednesday of last week, after the Slide Fire of this past May.  It was packed!

We also drove into downtown Sedona to buy some fresh Sandia Chili Pepper Ristras.

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… that every single one of you who has signed up as a subscriber … at any point in these past five years … should once again receive an email letting you know there is a new post.

If you did sign up and you don’t have an email by 9:30 this morning – I may give up blogging together!

So let me know – please!

While I wait to hear from you, I shall share some Friday Funnies!

Math is evil!

Sad, but true.

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Did you see those huge potted mums at Costco these last couple of weeks? Only $6.99 for a big five-gallon pot!

I bought five of them and have them all over the front and back patios – beautiful!

It was one of those fine October days
free from summer’s heat and haze
but not yet gripped by the autumn chill.

It was one of those fine October days
when the sky’s so clear
you can see the moon
through the atmosphere
at midday.

It was one of those fine October days
when the trees sport yellow and red
instead of everyday summer green.

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This real-life “Missing!!!” flyer really tickles my fancy! What a great sense of humor the victim has.

I’ve been missing something too. It was not stolen, but it is frustrating, just the same.

For some unknown, messed up, virtual reality, cyberspace reason – many of you (maybe all of you,  for all I know) have not been getting the “new post” emails that you signed up for.

For instance, my daughter, Marissa has not gotten them for months on end. On the other hand, my friend and neighbor, Amy, stopped receiving them around the beginning of August.

I have no idea why or how this happens. What I do know, is that I’ve spent a huge amount of time, effort, and even money trying to resolve the situation.

My new webmaster, Chris, has taken one more stab at it and we are most hopeful that all of you subscribers have the “new post” email for this post in your inbox today.

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What is it with the people in my family? They are either natural-born wife and mother torturers or honest-to-goodness klutzes!

First, it was Marissa with the nail polish.

Now, it’s Dave with the red wine!

A few weeks ago, when I came home from Rancho la Puerta, Dave picked me up from the airport. On the drive home, he said, “Oh, I have to tell you, I had a little accident.”

In other words, “Welcome Home!”

The glass of red wine he spilled was next to the bed. It “somehow” fell off the nightstand.

I immediately asked, “What did you do to it, so far?”  Luckily, all he’d done was blot the hell out of it. Unluckily, by the time I got to it, it was completely dry.

There are a variety of remedies for red wine on carpets. All are for when the spill is new … and wet. You can use white wine to remove red wine, salt, baking soda, vinegar, or club soda. But all the remedies I found said something like this:

“There are several methods for removing red wine stains that work well, see which one works well for you. Just remember, whatever you do, don’t let the spill sit for long before taking action, the longer it sits the more difficult it will be to lift the stain from your carpet”

Great! Oh well, what could I do? This wine was dry as a bone, so I just let it be and ignored it for … two and a half weeks. I’d walk by it several times a day and feel defeated.

Dave was out-of-town for the last five days, so I decided it was time to tackle the stain. I figured I’d get after it day after day until it was gone. I thought if I was able to take up a little more each day, letting the carpet dry between, that would be the best solution.

Plus, with Dave away, it could dry without being trampled on and I’d be less mad each night since I wouldn’t see his face.

Just as I did with the nail polish, I used rubbing alcohol. I’d saturate a cotton ball and rub it back and forth and then in circles. I was pretty discouraged after the first attempt! Good thing Dave didn’t come home from work that night!

But, I kept at it…

… day after day.

This is the current state of affairs.

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Congratulations to my BFF, Peggy, who, as of yesterday afternoon, is a first-time grandma!

I know she is too young to be a Grandma, but somehow she is to little Cruz Michael DeBolske. OK, Cruz is not so little. He weighed in at 11 pounds!

What? Eleven pounds, that’s two babies in one!

It’s hard to believe that this beautiful petite young woman could deliver such a big baby … well maybe not so hard to believe.  Look at new mommy, Keegan, just last week. She is all baby!

Here is your new daddy, Stevo! This photo was posted on Peggy’s FB page soon after 11-pound Cruz was born.

Baby Cruz is named after Stevo’s big brother,  Joseph Cruz DeBolske, who is Cruz’s personal guardian angel! Joey, my boy, I know you are dancing around heaven this day. Such love and joy!

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The first order of business is to inform you that 20 of the 23 consolation prizes from the 5th Blogiversary Comment Contest have been mailed out. I’ve already heard that a few of you have received them. If you’re still waiting for your prize, it should be in your mailbox in the next day or two.

I’m talking to you; Sharon C, Patti P, Karen P, Nancy B, Betsy S, Amy G, Maggie H, Vicki D, Sydney W, Ruth M, Tram M, Deirdre B, Maureen M, Bonnie F, Amy S, Nancy H, Sheila C, Jamie S, Gwen W and even grand prize winner Kathy R.

As for Amy K, Marissa H, and Jeff S – sorry, yours will be mailed next week when I get more of the product delivered to me from Amazon.

What was the consolation prize, you ask?

Japanese Seven-Spice! Enough for one batch of Grilled Edamame with Japanese Seven Spice, which will get the recipients addicted to THIS RECIPE!

As I reported back in August, I’ve had some work done on this site. It had to be moved from a private server to Go Daddy. That has been completed.

I also asked my new webmaster, Chris Tingom of Tornado Design to fix a few of the glitches and bugs that I’ve experienced on the site. (thank you Steve and Tram for the referral!)

One of the big annoyances was the inability to post a comment using your cell phone, which so many of you told me about. Even I got the message that my cell phone comment was not posted because it was viewed as spam.

NO MORE! Now you may leave comments with your cell – so please, let the commenting begin!

The next issue is the fact that “new post” emails are no longer being sent and received by those of you who subscribe to the blog. Chris is working on that, for all I know, this post may show up in your mailbox, if so, please let me know. If not, it should be there soon.

One thing Chris discovered, was that when you comment on a post and check the “Notify me of new posts by email.” box – you will receive the emails, as shown below. This was the email that Chris received after yesterday’s post. So that’s always an option!

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First off, I have to say, “Has it really been 13 years?”

Hard to believe.

That morning is as fresh in my mind and heart as it was 13 years ago. The thoughts and memory of it can flood my eyes with tears in an instant. Every anniversary I just want to scream out, “God Bless America.”

As adults, we learn that to truly appreciate joy, you must have had heartache. You can’t appreciate true beauty unless you’ve seen ugliness. If everything in life was perfect, we would not be able to appreciate it with all the sameness of that boring perfection.

Our family experienced that reality and life lesson last week.

As you know, the first week of September, I was in Rancho La Puerta with Barb and Kim. Late on Labor Day afternoon, we were in one of the two WiFi zones and I found a text that my husband, Dave, had sent earlier that day. From it, I sadly learned that my sister-in-law, Debbie, had died in a tragic car accident that morning in Illinois. Debbie is the wife of Dave’s oldest brother, Roger. All of Dave’s family live in Illinois. Roger and Debbie had been married for 41 years. Days later, I did the math and realized that Debbie had been in Dave’s life since he was just 13 years old.

I spent the next day scrambling to make the arrangements to get myself out of Mexico, back to San Diego, and then home to Phoenix. Dave made our travel arrangements to Illinois. I flew home on Wednesday and we flew to Chicago on Thursday.

Roger and Debbie are “big-time” in their town of DeKalb, Illinois. Roger is the former city planner and Debbie was a retired professor from Northern Illinois University. Everyone knows them, as was clear from the 600 to 700 people who showed up to stand in line for over two hours at her visitation. Police offices, firefighters, NIU professors, faculty and students, CPA professionals, friends of the couple, and their two grown children, Tony and Megan. Even Starbucks baristas and T.J. Maxx employees came to show their respect and give condolences. Debbie was a proud Starbucks addict and an enthusiastic shopaholic!

To give you a glimpse into what kind of person Debbie was, here is a small excerpt of an article from the NIU website. To read the entire article GO HERE.

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Obviously, the loss of a family member is the heartache I mentioned at the beginning.

But that weekend in Illinois also brought immense joy! On Saturday, as we were all en route to the funeral, our niece, Katie, went into labor with her firstborn. Katie is the daughter of Dave’s middle brother, Tom, and his wife, Beth. Katie’s due date was Sunday, so her mother strictly forbade her from coming to the visitation on Friday or the funeral on Saturday. (As much as a mother can forbid a grown daughter from doing anything!) As always (YES ALWAYS!) mother knows best, as Katie learned early that Saturday morning when her water broke.

As Dave and I sat in the church pew next to Dave’s mom, Tom and Beth, and their middle daughter Mo, and her fiance, Brandon. Our tears were mixed with the joy in our hearts and minds thinking of Katie laboring at the hospital with her husband Eddie at her side. Sweet Kody Ellen was born just hours later.

My favorite moment of that eventful day was when I opened my Facebook feed later that evening and found this posted by new first-time aunt, Mo.
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We have a winner!

Kathy only submitted one comment, on the last day comments were accepted. Although she mentioned three recipes she liked, she only added a comment to the grilled fresh figs post and therefore had only one entry. Here is her comment:

Submitted on 2014/08/28 at 12:16 PM

I just made this on Saturday and it could not have been easier or more delicious. This is my first blog reply even though I’ve followed you for 3 years. I’m torn between the Watermelon shaped rice Krispy treats that got me some major wow points (not before my friend’s Labrador got to them counter surfing during the 4 th of July party). Or the Best Broccoli ever – as I struggle for easy good vegetable dishes. I love your blog!

Her comment and her win confirm my long-time belief that you only need to buy one lottery ticket to win the lottery. That being said, I appreciate each and every one of you who commented and participated in this contest whether with one comment or with all five!

A total of 23 of you played along.
There were 76 eligible comments.
Nine of you submitted 5 comments.
Seven of you submitted just 1 comment.
The remaining seven of you were somewhere between one and five comments.

winner draw  (CLICK ON THIS LINK)

Above is a little video of the Trader Joe’s Crew member, Akeem, drawing the winner from the stockpot.

The great news is that although Kathy is the grand prize winner, all of you are winners! I will be sending each of you a prize. I would greatly appreciate it if you would email me at LPGourmett@aol.com with your mailing address so I can send you your prize. If I don’t hear from you in the next week, I’ll email you asking for your address.

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